140 GREAT AMERICANS

on April 14, Lincoln declared in the spirit of his speech
that now the war was over there must be no vindictive-
ness, and that those who had lately been enemies must
work together as friends to heal the scars of war. On
the evening of that day Lincoln sought temporary
relaxation from his worries by visiting Ford's Theatre
in Washington. There he was sitting in a box watching
the play when suddenly a demented actor named
Booth, said to have belonged to a group of Southern con-
spirators, thrust his way in through the door and shot
the President in the head. Lincoln did not die at once.
He was carried from the theatre to a private house
where he lingered for some hours, finally passing away
a few minutes after seven o'clock the following morning.
With him went the defeated South's last hope. The
man whom the Southerners had once looked upon as
their greatest enemy had, in the hour of their disaster,
become their greatest friend, and when he died the
spirit of reconciliation which he had preached, died
with him, and there was no one to take his place. Thus
there now fell upon the unfortunate Southern States a
period of vindictive retaliation on the part of the victors
exactly contrary to Lincoln's intentions. Yet though
he had not lived to build up the peace as he had hoped,
Honest Abe had won on the greater issue. He had pre-
served the unity of the American nation, and by so
doing had saved for the world a whole continent where
a great democracy might rise, and men might live free
from the rage and tyranny of tyrants. That is what
Lincoln did, and what nobler memorial could any man
desire?